Author’s Note: This article was originally published on July 8th, 2022 as part of a blog series about a novel I was ghostwriting for a client without the use of AI (though I have since used AI to generate some of the images). If you haven’t read the introduction yet, you can find it here.
Day 13
The Power of Sleep
I can’t stress enough the importance of sleep to creativity. Without proper sleep, extracting every word feels like a chore. When I’m well rested, the words generally flow out on their own, and all I have to do is get out of the way.
Prioritize your sleep. When you wake ready to conquer the world, you’ll be glad you did.
Daily Word Count: 2562
Total Word Count: 20467
Day 14
Cycling
If you have been reading along in this series, you may be wondering where rewriting enters the process.
Rough drafts, after all, are notoriously bad. According to Hemingway, “The first draft of anything is shit.” He also claimed, “The only kind of writing is rewriting.”
As much weight as I give to the writing advice of Hemingway, however, this doesn’t have to be the experience of every writer. Dean Wesley Smith, for instance, an author with nearly two hundred published novels to his name, follows a one-draft method during which he cycles back and forth within the story, cleaning up earlier issues as he recognizes them so that by the time he’s finished with the draft, it’s clean and complete and consistent.
My process is similar to Smith’s. Early on in the book, when most of the chapters are untouched and I can dive in wherever I please, I try to get as many words down as quickly as I can. Later, as I inevitably begin to lose steam, I cycle back to early portions of the story and refine them, which often gives me ideas for how to write later chapters in the book.
Daily Word Count: 2533
Total Word Count: 23000
Day 15
The Art of Daydreaming
Creativity is a wild child and doesn’t like being trapped in a box. Sometimes, when I sense my imagination needs space to roam, I’ll lie in bed for a while after waking up, letting my thoughts wander wherever they will.
This is the time of the day when my mind is most prone to flights of fancy, and it’s important to give my imagination some time to play around before burdening my brain with a to-do list. Does this mean I put off writing for the day if I don’t feel like doing the work? Absolutely not. I do, though, bend the rules a little here and there for the sake of creativity.
If your mornings involve screaming toddlers and barking dogs, this option might not be available to you. But find time to daydream now and again. Your imagination needs space to roam.
Daily Word Count: 2505
Total Word Count: 25505
Day 16
Writing Too Fast
Sometimes, in the rush to hit my word count for the day, I become so focused on tracking my progress that I pull myself right out of the story. I start looking at the words instead of through them.
There is only one solution for this: taking the time to immerse myself in the story again. I need to visualize what’s happening. The less I visualize, the more shallow the writing is likely to be.
When I find I have nothing to say about a particular subject, it’s probably because I’m only skimming along the surface. The interesting discoveries are down in the deep, if I’m willing to take the plunge.
Daily Word Count: 2510
Total Word Count: 28015
Day 17
Being a Bad Writer
One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever received was to allow myself to write badly.
As a writer, I have a vision of a story in my head, and I hate seeing how poorly my words represent that vision. The vision is this beautiful, breathtaking image, but the way I describe it seems tawdry and dull.
If I let my shortcomings stop me from expressing myself, though, I’ll never get anywhere. I need to get the words down, no matter how bad they might be, and then begin the hard work of refining them.
The more I write, the better the quality of my “bad” writing, even though I know my writing will never be perfect. It’s important to appreciate this incremental progress and be patient with myself, all while continuing to raise my personal standards.
Daily Word Count: 2500
Total Word Count: 30515
Day 18
Word by Word
Some days I’d rather watch paint dry than write a story. Usually this means I’m recovering from the previous day — a late night, an eventful day, an emotionally exhausting conversation, etc.
The only thing to do at such times is wade forward, slow and steady, word by word. I may plan rewards for myself when I hit my word count (an episode of a favorite show, some quiet time with a good book, a particular food I’ve been craving, to give a few examples), but I try not to let myself off the hook easily.
We are all capable of far more than we realize, but we will never discover where our limits lie if we don’t push ourselves to them. If you’re struggling to stay locked in, let go of any ideas you might have about how thrilling, exciting, or fulfilling the process ought to be, and just do the work.
Get the words, no matter how ugly, down on paper. Like a hiker on a trail thousands of miles long, all you have to do is take the next step.
And the next, and the next.
Daily Word Count: 2532
Total Word Count: 33047
* * *
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Check back in for Week 4, where we’ll go over:
– What to do with the wrong kind of inspiration
– How to navigate the doldrums of storytelling
– And why it’s okay to resent your work-in-progress
Until then, happy writing.
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